hpk's blog

How to Kill Kasab?

hpk — Mon, 10 May 2010 11:35:28 +0000

Last week made me realize the rabid frenzy of the crowds in the colosseums of Rome. Gleeful debates on how to kill Kasab, why to kill Kasab and should we kill Kasab on TV channels seemed almost medieval. The complete lack of somberness or restrain while talking about taking a human life, even if its Kasab was shocking! It was as if a frenzied mod had been picked up from the streets and directly transported to the newsroom. Killing a human being is a grave matter and should not be taken lightly. After all we are supposed to be a little better then the Kasab clan.

The worst were the ones moralizing on why Kasab should or should not be killed. People were debating and galvanizing support for Kasab's hanging much before the actual sentence was passed. The whole nation seemed to have decided that Kasab should be hanged. I have a few problems with such campaigns:

1. They expose us globally, on our lack of respect for the law in general. We did not wait for the courts to decide what should be done with Kasab. We were literally dictating the judgement the court should pass and god forbid had the judgement has not be to the liking of the, supposedly, the masses or the common man, I am sure we would have done a Kasab on judge Tehaliani. We only follow/support laws that suit our convenience.

2. They expose our increasing levels of civic and social in-tolerance esp. towards contrarian views. The media portrayed as if the entire nation was frothing over in demanding death for Kasab. Any one who argued otherwise was intellectually lynched (as I saw on some TV debates). Arnabh Goswami of Times now, wondered - why is this country so guilt ridden about capital punishment, the BJP spokes man literally asked the decenter to go die in Pakistan and was greeted with uncomfortable grows of approval. Dissenters were literally put in the dock and portrayed as criminals and much worse anti-national. I personally believe a large part of India does not believe in killing others no matter what. Media never showed the other view. There were hundreds of victims in the terror attack that Kasab unleashed, not all of them want Kasab's death. However, the media selectively showed victims who believe hanging Kasab will bring closure to them.

3. And last but not the least the worst part about these campaigns is our justification for demanding death for Kasab. Justifications were of all kind - bringing closure to the victims, ridding the society of a potential security risk, revenge, its a deterrence, war against the nation, it is a terrorist act, we've given him a fair trail, not killing him will make the country a soft target, terrorist acts should be treated differently form other acts of killing, killing him makes much more sense philosophically and practicality, we've given him an excellent trial, etc. etc... I wish some one has said, Kasab should be hanged because it the law of our land because thats what its all about. Its not revenge, its not for closure, its not because 1 billon strong nation is scared of hi-jacking and hostage situations that Kasab should hang. He should hang because our law says so. Period.

But alas, since we have little belief in law the argument never occurred to any one. To hide their own guilt/discomfort, people think its important that the hanging needs to be justified by some sort of moral/political/metaphysical argument. No need.

People who believe Kasab should not be hanged, I am one of them, and capital punishment should be abolished should stop wining and work to get the law amended and pledge to lead by example. I hope I never have to, but if the time comes, I will not demand an eye for an eye, even if I my loved ones have been harmed by the Kasab types. Promise.

About Kasab: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajmal_Kasab && http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&prmdo=1&q=Ajmal+Amir+kasab&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Why are we Hindu

hpk — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 05:22:06 +0000

So the other day i was wondering what is a Hindu? Until recently people of the Indian sub continent were Vaishnavites, Shivaites, Shuktos etc... etc... but not Hindu. Every one had their own religion and we happy enough. The idea of having millions of gods and goddesses was so right back then.

But some where down the line we clubbed ourselves or were clubbed by some one else into a unified religion call Hinduism. Weather it was done to facilitate census by the British or by the Indian's them selves for political gains, or both is not very clear. What is clear is that this miss-appropriation or usurping of the religions of the past into a unified religion has resulted in a less tolerant and assimilative society. A culture of many religions could have diluted the fanatic zeal with witch we practice (or protect) Hinduism today.

My biggest problem with Hinduism is that its supposed to be a way of life. What does that mean? Other religions are not a way of life? Hinduism has create a huge number of un-necessary contradictions in our society which are often reflected in riots and pogroms. If Hinduism is an absence of any specific teaching/preaching/practice/etc... then how do we justify hindu crowds rioting, raping, gaping etc... in the name of protecting the Hindu thing - the hindu culture etc? Further, Hinduism has centralized the religious power to a few fanatics. Had we retained the diversity of, lets say, hindu religions the power of religion fanatics would have been diluted, more people would have had retained their historic identity and we would have been more tolerant lot.

I belive, when we say were are a tolerent society we actually refer to the non-hinduism dominated past, where the absense of one big shot religion made us tolerant to other, new and old faiths to live under one roof. The consolidation of religions has not been a good thing, except of course for the few religious/political zealots. Imagine, Hinduism tried to appropriate religions like Sikhism as a part of itself! Good thing the Sikhs protested. Alas, not every religion/sect could do the same.

I do not want to be called a Hindu, as I do not practice any of the religious templates that are available under shop Hinduism, but hinduism has not left any space for people like me to be anything other wise. If Hinduism is not a religion then why am I forced to identify myself as so. Hope we loosen up and get rid of this Hinduism thing. I am tired of filling in my religion as Hindu can we please have more options?

I just hope we realize this, and try to live in peace.

Salute to the great man

hpk — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 10:12:30 +0000

Today be the birthday of Dr. B R Ambedkar. I guess its time we start remembering people we can be really proud of as Indians.

Some of his quotes:
“History shows that where ethics and economics come in conflict, victory is always with economics. Vested interests have never been known to have willingly divested themselves unless there was sufficient force to compel them.”

“A people and their religion must be judged by social standards based on social ethics. No other standard would have any meaning if religion is held to be necessary good for the well-being of the people.”

“I like the religion that teaches liberty, equality and fraternity.”

“Law and order are the medicine of the body politic and when the body politic gets sick, medicine must be administered.”

“Life should be great rather than long.”

From Wikipedia:

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 — 6 December 1956), also known as Babasaheb, was an Indian jurist, political leader, Buddhist activist, philosopher, thinker, anthropologist, historian, orator, prolific writer, economist, scholar, editor, revolutionary and a revivalist for Buddhism in India. He was also the chief architect of the Indian Constitution. Born into a poor Mahar, then Untouchable, family, Ambedkar spent his whole life fighting against social discrimination, the system of Chaturvarna — the categorization of Hindu society into four varnas — and the Hindu caste system. He is also credited with providing a spark for the conversion of hundreds of thousands of Dalits with his Ambedkar(ite) Buddhism. Ambedkar has been honoured with the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award.

Some more places you can find info:
Bina Trevedi's Blog
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._R._Ambedkar
http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/ambedkar/
http://www.ambedkar.org/

IPL fucks the nation... [again]

hpk — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 05:53:00 +0000

As if, destroying cricket, cricketrs and busineses was not enough, IPL fucks the nation once again. Probably they are getting back at us for not cooperating with them in hosting IPL-II as we were too busy electing our new rulers etc. Perhaps its Lalit Modi's way of saying 'Fuck you India!'.

I don't see no reason for humiliating cricketers like they were during the IPL player auction. I mean Modi literally eats, shits and dies with the franchieses. Its hard to believe he didn't know that no one will buy Pakistani players. And its even harderd to believe that the IPL gang didn't know the political impact of such a fiasco. They are politicians running the show. Now IPL is sitting pretty and the country is fielding unnecessary sir-dard due to these assholes.

One could forget what they did had they been an innocous organization. But BCCI aka IPL are an evil organization whish is entent to kill all forms of circket just to facilitate IPL/T20 interest. They want to kill Test crickets because its too long and dosen't fetches much money. They field advertiser/sponsor backed players in the teams disregarding merit. They let advertisers/sponsors decided what kind of pitches to be made for matches. The situation is, if you offer enough moeny they will willingly drop Sachin or Dhoni from the team saying, blok's too old we need to think for the future etc. And they don't like paying taxes either. They ruthlessly kill competion (ICL and ICL players are pariah in the cricketing world).

Its time this non government, unofficial orgainzation is reined in and made accountable. And organization that spends less then 10% of its revenues on promotion of criecket is just like our hockey federation in disguise. They need to be reined it. Cricket is too important to be left to Lalit Modi and Gang. We love cricket and don't want it go down the drain.

The least we can do is to make them pay proper taxes and disclose their accounting. Amen.

Nobel Obama

hpk — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:20:57 +0000

Its a major surprise. Barak Obama, president of USA has been awarded Nobel peace prize 2009. I am not exactly sure if this is the right thing to do. I love him as much as any one else but... Nobel used to stand for demonstrated, verifiable actions. Well I see none.

P092909PS-0031, originally uploaded by The Official White House Photostream.

They are saying its to encourage him to do what he is doing etc... what the...? Have you noticed any reduction of violence, murder, rape, injustice around your neighborhood, your city, state, your country, your continent or the world in general? I may be blind but I haven't. Some people say you will when he's done, I say should have given it to him when he is done. Why now? Why so early? He has achieved much but not as much. I am afraid, Nobel committee has brought a politicians election manifesto big time. Its a victory of Obama's election campaign manager!

God forbid, if there is another attack in the USA during Obama regime, will Obama act as G Bush or a Nobel "Peace" prize winner?

The argument that we want to support Obama in his activities doesn't cut too well with me. If you have to encourage some one to be good and do good then my prime candidate would be Osama Bin Lade. It is people like Osama and other such through out the world who need to be encouraged. I mean Obama is not a kid who needs to be given a candy bar for good behavior. The world has already suffered one bad case of appeasement, let us not set a bad precedent again.

Give Osama the dammn thing not Obama.

Amen.